Wheelie Bin Collection Update - 8th January 2010

Wheelie bin & recycling collections have been very patchy both today and yesterday.

Although refuse vehicles have been out throughout Southport, collecting left out wheelie bins where its reasonably safe to do so, lots of roads couldn’t be done. Still problems emptying the contents of the trucks at Foul Lane where they are only accepting a limited number of loads. Some refuse lorries parked up at the depot full of waste that can’t be got rid of.We’re told that a number of Sefton council street cleaners/refuse workers have had accidents/injuries over the last few days because of the conditions. In one case, a broken wrist.

The plan is to collect as many grey wheelie bins and recycling boxe as possible on the usual days next week and a black bag of rubbish, put by the side of the grey bin, will be collected because of the extra waste that’s been piling up since the snow dropped and bins haven’t been emptied.
The green recycling box teams have been out in areas of our town where they can collect reasonably safely. To catch up, they are going to delay picking up recycling material from schools for a while in order to concentrate on emptying boxes from households.

Wheelie Bin & Recycling News

Sefton council cannot collect refuse at the moment because the places where they take waste to for disposal cannot take any more rubbish. The council deals with collecting refuse and the vehicles then go to two “tip” sites - Foul Lane, Southport and Gillmoss, Liverpool - where they unload.

All Sefton’s waste is then dealt with by a private contractor, Veolia, which manages the “tips” for the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority, the body responsible for getting rid of all the waste collected in the region.

EVERYTHING IS BACKING UP - NO MORE ROOM

The refuse is taken onwards by Veolia for burying at a landfill site near Warrington. But this is effectively closed because of the conditions. The whole operation is therefore backing up. Both Foul Lane and Gillmoss cannot store any more of the waste collected by Sefton.
Sefton refuse lorries were out yesterday (Tues) collecting. But they now have nowhere to unload. The vehicles are now stranded in the council depots completely full of rubbish and so, of course, cannot go out again until the vehicles have been emptied.

The private contractor that collects the green recycling boxes has had to stop all operations because of the risks to the collection teams.